A place to go a-wandering

The covered bridge over the Clear Fork of the Mohican River near Loudonville, Ohio is a favorite with visitors at the Mohican Memorial State Forest. The bridge was built in 1963.

The covered bridge over the Clear Fork of the Mohican River near Loudonville, Ohio is a favorite with visitors at the Mohican Memorial State Forest. The bridge was built in 1963. (Bob Downing/Akron Beacon Journal/MCT)

LOUDONVILLE, Ohio — If you're looking for a good one-day hike in Ohio, Mohican State Park and the surrounding Mohican Memorial State Forest are for you.

The white-blazed Hemlock Gorge Trail runs from the state park campground off state Route 3 to the west and north. It connects with the Lyons Falls Trail that runs to Pleasant Hill Dam.

The trail includes a covered bridge, hemlock-lined ravines, a rare stand of white pines and a bubbling stream, the Clear Fork of the Mohican River.

It also includes Big Lyons Falls, where water was trickling over the drop on a fall visit. The water drops 80 feet in the rocky U-shaped amphitheater. Nearby is Little Lyons Falls — visible mainly from above — where the water drops 25 feet into a box-shaped canyon.

You can return to the campground via the yellow-blazed Pleasant Hill and Hemlock Gorge trails in southern Ashland County. They both run along the picturesque stream with its riffles and pools.

That makes a 6.75-mile hike. But there are shorter hiking options available, beginning at the covered bridge over the Clear Fork of the Mohican. The bridge can be reached off state Route 97.

The hike takes you into the heart of the heavily forested Clear Fork Gorge that is up to 300 feet deep and 1,000 feet across at the top. It is the deepest gorge in Ohio.

Glacial melt carved through the Blackhand sandstone, exposing huge outcroppings and steep cliff walls. The glacial advance 15,000 years ago stopped just north of where the gorge sits, and melting water from the glacier gushed through the canyon.

Found in the east-west gorge are towering hemlocks and yellow birches that like cool, moist environs and surviving virgin stands of white pines.

A 29-acre wild area, Clear Fork Gorge State Nature Preserve, is found on the south slopes above the Clear Fork. It became a state nature preserve in 1990. It was closed to the public for many years, but a rustic loop trail was built in 1996. You can get to that trail by parking at the fire tower, crossing the road and following the signs.

The two waterfalls are the big attractions on the Mohican hike. You can approach Big Lyons Falls from down low or up high. You can hop from one trail to the other via rough-hewn steps.

The water drops over the edge atop a recess cave. You can stand behind the falls and not get wet. But the flow is generally low, unless there's been a heavy rain.

There are piles of wood at the bottom of the drop, evidence of what the tiny stream can move when water levels are high.

Green is the dominant color at Big Lyons Falls. Moss and ferns are heavy in the shaded gorge. This is where John Chapman — known as Johnny Appleseed — once carved his name and the date in the rock. Those carvings have long since disappeared; some graffiti remain on the rock.

Little Lyons Falls is narrow and deep with limited access and viewing. Some rocks have collapsed into the box canyon, shortening views of the falls from below.

Some reports say that the two falls were named after local Indian Tom Lyons. Others say the falls were named for early settler and squatter Paul Lyons, who built a cabin nearby. He was reportedly a recluse, although he had a wife and son. He didn't farm, but he did hunt and fish. He died in an 1856 logging accident and was buried on a hillside near the two waterfalls.

You can get to the trails at the earthen dam, which is 113 feet high, 775 feet across the top and 550 feet wide at its base. The dam was completed in 1937 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to control flooding in the 197-square-mile watershed in north-central Ohio. It flooded one of the prettiest sections of the gorge and created 850-acre Pleasant Hill Lake, which has 13 miles of shoreline.

It is a moderate hike to the two waterfalls because of the length and a few steep sections — from the south at the covered bridge and from the north at the dam. If you start at the campground, the trail parallels the stream on its north bank. The trail generally runs along the wooded flood plain, although the gorge narrows in places.

It is 2 miles to the iconic covered bridge, built in 1963. Cross the river on the bridge and pick up the two-mile Lyons Falls Trail on the south bank. That will take you west and north to the dam.

There are steps on the grassy face of the dam that will take you to the Pleasant Hill Trail. It runs on the stream bank, is three-quarters of a mile long and returns you to the covered bridge. You can also get to the Hog Hollow Trail, a hiking and mountain biking trail.

Foot traffic on the trails can be heavy on weekends, especially around the covered bridge.

The Mohican, an Ohio wild scenic river, is noted for the eight canoe liveries and an estimated 2,600 campsites in and near Loudonville in southern Ashland County. The first area canoe livery is celebrating its 50th anniversary: Dick Frye opened the Mohican Canoe Livery (now Mohican Adventures) in 1961.

The state also stocks trout in the Clear Fork. The state park includes 5 miles of the Clear Fork.

Getting there: To get to Mohican State Park from Akron, take Interstate Highway 76 west and Interstate Highway 71 south. Exit at state Route 97, and go east 20 miles on state Route 97 to state Route 3. Turn left (north), and the state park entrance will be on your left. The village of Loudonville is straight ahead.

Nearby: The 10.5-mile Wally Road Scenic Byway stretches from near Loudonville through Holmes and Knox counties to state Route 514 at Greer. Along the way are several canoe liveries, more than 1,800 campsites and festival sites. wallyroad.com